Ivan Kalyayev

Ivan Kalyayev (6 July 1877-23 May 1905) was a Socialist Revolutionary Party member and an SR Combat Organization assassin. In 1905, he murdered Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia.

Biography
Ivan Kalyayev was born on 6 July 1877 in Warsaw, Congress Poland, Russian Empire to a Russian father and a Polish mother, and he graduated from St. Petersburg University in 1897. He was expelled from the university and exiled to Ekaterinoslav for being involved in student protests against Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and he was briefly a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party before realizing that they did not carry out their promises. He instead joined the Socialist Revolutionary Party, which was involved in political assassinations against Russian officials. On 15 February 1905, he attempted to assassinate Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, but he did not want to harm his wife and nephews. Two days later, however, he threw a nitroglycerin bomb into the grand duke's carriage, killing him; Kalyayev was injured in the explosion. Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine attempted to have Kalyayev pardoned, even publicly forgiving him, but this was to no avail. On 23 May 1905, Kalyayev was hanged for his crime.